Obj. ID: 36931 Torah finials, Emden, 1801
sub-set tree:
The following description was prepared by William Gross:
The finials evolved from knobs at the upper end of the staves (Atzei Chaim) on which the Torah scroll is wound. Since the shape of the spherical finial recalled that of a fruit, it was called a tappu'aḥ, "apple," among the Jews of Spain and in the Sephardi Diaspora, and a rimmon, "pomegranate," in all other communities.
The earliest known reference to Torah finials occurs in a document from 1159, found in the Cairo Genizah, from which we learn that by the 12th-century finials were already being made of silver and had bells. Around the same time, Maimonides mentions finials in the Mishneh Torah (Hilkhot Sefer Torah 10:4). Despite the variations on the spherical shape which developed over the centuries and the addition of small bells around the main body of the finial, the spherical, fruit-like form was the basic model for the design of finials in Oriental and European communities.
A most significant variation appeared in 15th-century Spain, Italy, and Germany, where the shape of finials was influenced by that of various objects of church ritual, whose design often incorporated architectural motifs, The resulting tower-like structure, which seems to have appeared around the same time in different parts of Europe, became the main type of finial in 18th-century Germany and Italy, as well as Morocco, brought there by Jews expelled from Spain.
These elegant Torah finials, called "Rimmonim" in Hebrew, are of a type developed in berlin at the end of the 18th century by the silversmiths Gentzmer and Burcky. This pair was crafted in another Prussian city, Emden, but clearly patterned directly from the Berlin prototypes, two pair of which are in the Jewish museum in New York, originating from the Danzig collection. At this time, "Schutzjuden" were sent from Berlin, the capital, to Emden, which was also a part of Prussia, and they probably brought their taste when these Rimmonim were ordered. The maker, from the family Hayens, was from three generations of silversmiths in Emden. According to the municipality of the city of Emden, this pair of Rimmonim is one of the most significant objects remaining from this family of silversmiths. Another pair of Rimmonim, also by Haynes and directly patterned after the clock tower of the Rathaus in Emden, is in the Halpren collection in New York. This pair entered the Gross collection as a set with the Torah shield, 051.001.019, and the Torah pointer, 052.001.042. It appears that these objects were together in Emden and was used as an ornamental set for a Torah scroll in the synagogue of that city. Another similar pair of such Rimmonim from Berlin exists in the Cymbalista collection in Geneva.